Pakistani Muslim Clerics Approve Transgender People's Right To Marry

Muslim clerics in Pakistan are usually known for issuing stern, conservative pronouncements on gender-related issues, mostly limiting the rights of women. But in a surprising twist, a large group of clerics there has just issued a fatwa, or religious edict, affirming the rights of transgender people to marry.

The ruling, issued Sunday by 50 Islamic clerics in the eastern city of Lahore, said that transgender people may marry under Islamic law and that they have the right to be buried in Muslim ceremonies and to inherit property, according to reports from Reuters and Pakistani media. The fatwa said the Pakistani state is responsible for protecting them.

"We need to accept them as God's creation, too," said Zia-ul-Haq Naqshbandi, who heads an Islamic organization that requested the fatwa. "Whoever treats them badly - society, the government, their own parents - are sinners."

Some rights groups said the ruling was confusing and did not do enough to protect the rights of transgender people, who often face abuse and harassment in Pakistan. The fatwa declared that transgender men "with male characteristics" may marry women or transgender women "with female characteristics," and vice versa. It did not detail the nature of such characteristics and did not mention people who have undergone sex-change surgery.

But others activists called it a welcome first step toward seeking full legal rights for transgender people through Pakistani courts.

The ruling also illustrates the complex, diverse and contradictory nature of Pakistani society. The majority-Muslim country of 180 million has spawned fundamentalist and sectarian Islamist groups affiliated with the Taliban and al-Qaida, and it has one of the world's most severe laws against blasphemy, or insulting Islam. But it also has a sizable Christian minority and is home to mystical Sufi orders, whose poets and musicians promote harmony and peace. It has banned homosexuality and does not allow homosexuals to marry, but it does not aggressively prosecute gays as a rule.

On matters of women's rights, the country has become increasingly conservative since the 1980s, when military ruler Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq presided over a period of "Islamization" in which men were flogged for drinking alcohol and women were imprisoned for adultery and other sexual crimes, known as zina. Laws banning "honor killings" and criminalizing domestic violence have drawn strong opposition from Islamic leaders, and the national clerical council ruled last month that the Koran allows men to beat their wives "lightly."

Pakistan also has a long South Asian tradition of accepting transsexuals and people of non-traditional genders as part of society. Some eunuchs and others have been viewed as having mystical powers. They have recognized leaders and associations that have long fought for their rights, and the courts ruled in 2012 that they should be given job quotas and ID cards as a recognized minority. However, they are marginalized from mainstream society, and many work as prostitutes, beggars and entertainers. Men dressed in female costumes and makeup are a familiar sight at public festivals and shrines.

In some cases, transgender people are severely bullied and even killed. The fatwa issued Sunday urged people to be kind to them, saying that "making fun of them, teasing them or thinking of them as inferior is against sharia law, because such an act amounts to objecting to one of Allah's creations."

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)